“A magician, bewitching our ears,” is what the London’s Gramophone said to describe Russian violinist Ilya Kaler. The only violinist in history to win gold medals at the Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, and Paganini Competitions, Kaler will be performing both Violin Concerto No. 1 and Violin Concerto No. 2 by Prokofiev. Opening the concert is orchestral masterpiece that showcases the musicians with virtuoso instrumentation. Concluding the evening is Polovtsian Dances which comes from the end of Act II of Borodin’s opera, Prince Igor. At this point in the opera, Polovtsian Khan Kontchak entertains the captive, Prince Igor, with a series of songs and dances. Originally, the scoring for this piece was not finished for years and unfortunately Borodin died before he completed the opera; however, it was edited completed by his colleagues Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Glazunov, and has been a concert-hall favorite ever since.